Premiering next week: New story! "Passing Familiarity" (Details below!) · 9:53pm Nov 13th, 2021
Yep, you read that title right: a new Turing Test story premiers next week! So, what is it about? Well… it’s something a bit different.
The premise is of Turing Test as a former robotic servant called a “familiar” in a world where such robots are ubiquitous: virtually every pony in the world has one! But now freed and able to walk among organics as though she were one of them, Turing finds herself utterly devoid of purpose and begins asking herself, “When your whole existence is devoted to a single person, how do you live on now that the one you’ve lived for is gone?”
This is a story about her searching for an answer.
Now, obviously, this story is a bit darker and more existential than your typical Turing Test story, so expect it to be a bit shorter on humor, but hopefully with a generous dose of “teh feelz” to make it worth your while.
It’s also an alternate universe story, so it will not have any bearing on the mainline Iron Horse universe. It takes place in a distinctly different, far more technologically advanced future where robots and AI entities are not just common, but ubiquitous.
Lastly, and perhaps most important, it’s something of a crossover. It’s some of the same characters from The Iron Horse, but more a look at how they would fare in the universe of GaPJaxie’s “Familiar” series of stories.
Now, I would never tell someone not to read Jaxie’s stories because they’re honestly fascinating, thought-provoking reads, but you absolutely can read this without much introduction to the Familiar-verse.
If you are interested in familiarizing yourself (heh heh) with it, though, I suggest the following:
- “Familiar” - the original story about life in a world where ponies get their own government-issued best friend robot who loves them with all their mechanical heart… even if you break that heart into pieces…
- “The City Upon a Hill” - The prequel that fleshes out the world further; might be worthwhile to read this one first, in fact, but either way is basically fine
Likewise, because this is an alternate universe, you technically don’t need to have read The Iron Horse to understand it either! You might miss some connections, but this story can be enjoyed with no pre-reading at all.
Now as a warning, this story includes references to the following things that might be on your trigger list, though none are gratuitous or graphic:
- Suicide
- Sex
- Drugs
- Abuse
Normally this wouldn’t be a big deal, but I know those are a bit out there for a Turing Test story. That said, there is no gore or graphic depictions of any of the above, so while the story might be a bit more adult in tone, it’s still not in the “Rated M” category.
If it sounds like I’m trying to warn you off of my own story, though, I really hope you all read it. I’ve been sitting on it for a long time now, working on it here and there over the years, partly because I was afraid of the reception. But I’ve come to realize that if I don’t publish it about now, it may never get published at all, and I think this story has some important things to say.
So, if you’ll indulge me in a brief experiment next week, I look forward to seeing you and your reactions with the premier of:
Passing Familiarity: The Iron Horse
Uncontrollable hype
Rather see a sequel and the drugs killed this story for me but good luck with it
5606909
Well, not quite ready to do a sequel just yet. And there's reference to drug use but no actual drug use in the story. So no Turing Test on robo-crack or whatever because... well, that'd be weird. But I understand either way.
5606883
Glad to hear it!
Turing Test's ORGANIC!?
5606989
Nope. But she can pass for one!
I loved Familiar. Let me also toss two other similar stories out there, Convergence and Synthesis. I'm way late to the game, but I've got a slow-burning future story with a Clover in it (which may not get published for ten years at this rate) Ponies make the best companions in the future.
Oh, sounds interesting. :)
"Lastly, and perhaps most important, it’s something of a crossover. It’s some of the same characters from The Iron Horse, but more a look at how they would fare in the universe of GaPJaxie’s “Familiar” series of stories."
And I was think that this sounded similar to that, and was planning to ask if there was any connection -- and then you answered that before I did. :)
I mean... we technically got a glimpse of this when turing was dreaming down in the ravine which I'm still annoyed that her first dream was never brought up again in the story...